Dreamers Forum Is it smart...

to post whole works on a site like this? And before anyone gets in a huff, I'm not talking about the potential risk of plagerism, but rather this: Most publishers want un-published work and they are begining to request that the work is not published online. While critique is good, and needed. (Advice I recieved from a well known published writer included joining a group like this), do you also run the risk of turning publishers off your work by putting it all out there?

Give me thoughts...

Nazarea~

I hope not!  If so, I have certainly ruined any chances I had, and they weren't that good to begin with. :)

On a serious note, however, I would like to know if putting our works up for people to comment on is the same as publishing our stories.  Is this considered a 'first publication?'  No one has been able to answer my questions before, perhaps we have a knowledgeable publisher in our midst...

Mel

Yes, I too have heard that publishers are against work published in it's entirety on sites like this.  Can't remember where I read that, but it was before I joined WC or any similar site.  I suppose by posting, one is reducing the potential market for the novel.  However, if the novel were deleted from here before final editing, possibly with a change of title, unless the publisher you choose happens to spend their time browsing sites like this, how are they to know?  It's not as if it's already been given an ISBN code.

Note to Mel... For me, if someone I knew from this site had their work published in book form, and I had found it interesting enough to read every chapter on here first, I'd be far more likely to by a copy. 

I have already decided before this that I will never post my entire books on the site. If something ever becomes of my writing, I want to leave the ending as a surprise for everyone. When I finish the book I'm working on, I will probably post an alternative ending, not the one I have already written. If posting work on here does hurt our chances, then a lot of good writers won't ever see their books in print. Who knows what the publishers actually look at? It probably depends on the company itself. Maybe we'll never know.

 

Summer

I have heard similar things, but I always post first drafts on these sites (they're the ones that need the most help) and only edit particularly embarrassing spelling errors that are pointed out, so I think it'll be okay? I hope it's not too big of a deal. ><